


All Aflutter

by Solstarin



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 14:56:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12937707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solstarin/pseuds/Solstarin
Summary: Feelings? Gross, what are those? Loki doesn't need those.





	All Aflutter

**Author's Note:**

> Day 6!

 

Loki didn’t get _flustered_. He was _Silvertongue_ , he was _Worldbreaker_ , he was _Liesmith_. He was a master of speech. He could - and had - charmed his way out of certain death. He prided himself on his cool head and quick thinking. Nothing tripped him up - not the full armies of Svartalfheim, not Surtur himself, and certainly not these silly human girls.

He had kept a safe distance from Y/N, though. Something about her made his throat go dry and his eyes feel like they were floating in his head among words he couldn’t get past his lips. If he was honest, it frightened him. The prospect of falling in love, of having someone who could, through nothing but their sheer existence, could reduce him to a sputtering child, frightened him. He had buried his affection so deep under his mischief that he was surprised it was even still alive.

Y/N was a nurse, and for a time he considered feigning injury for an excuse to get close to her, but ultimately decided against it. He wasn’t nearly that desperate, and it would tarnish his image if he was coming to her bloody more often than not. Not to mention he had no idea what he would even say to her. He was, for the moment, content to watch her from a distance, where she was distracted from him by her teammates.

Thor had dragged him bodily to this “get together", and he hated it. He didn’t like the hot Midgardian summer sun, and the fact that Y/N would be there, in close proximity no less, was even more of a reason he didn’t want to be present.

Loki was put in swimming attire (apparently Midgardians had specially-made clothes just for the purpose), which was uncomfortable, the water of Tony’s pool smelled of acrid chemicals, and even the shade carried the thick heat of summer. He had conjured himself a new outfit as soon as his brother was distracted, and chose a lounge chair under an umbrella as far from the others as he could find. The only thing within reach to reach were glossy booklets of human drama, but Loki would rather look busy, so that he might be left alone, so he scowled at the pages and let it occupy him for the time being.

He was still simmering when a yelp caught his attention. He snapped his head up to witness the tail end of a splash, and the bowman chortling at the edge of the water. He almost rolled his eyes, but the person who had been pushed into the water hadn’t surfaced.

“Y/N?” Clint called, peering into the water at the shadow beneath the gentle waves.

Loki’s heart picked up. His grip on the paper in his lap tightened as Clint bent at the knee, peering into the water. All of a sudden, the shape of Y/N surged forward and her hand grasped the man’s wrist, pulling him into the water with a triumphant holler.

The entire group burst into laughter as Clint rose to the surface and Y/N cheered, throwing her head back in mirth as she was glared at. She shrieked when she was lunged at, and the friends engaged in a chase across the pool and a subsequent wrestling match, splashing water in huge arcs. Y/N was lifted easily from the water after she lost the mock fight and was tossed further towards the deeper end as she laughed.

Loki didn’t feel his hand clenching over his chest until a metallic button began to dig into his finger. Slightly shocked, he released his grip and blinked, swiftly smoothing his shirt down. He tried to clear his throat, but a pathetic, strangled whine escaped instead.

“You’re not looking too good, there, ring-toss.”

Loki turned his head, adopting a fierce glare to hide his doe-eyed pining.

“I am fine,” he snapped.

Tony, who had come to stand beside him with his arms crossed over a tropical-print tank top, tilted his head and studied him momentarily before he turned his head and shouted.

“Hey, Y/N! Could you come check out our sociopath? I think he’s got heat stroke or something!”

“It’s really not necess–”

His words died in his throat as Y/N lifted herself out of the pool, looking like liquid sunlight. Water ran in rivulets off her suit and down her skin, and the way her hips shifted when she lifted her arms to smooth her hair back over her skull made his throat grow tight. She was still breathless from the play-fight, and each slight heave of her chest felt like it was sucking the air from his.

“Yeah, does he look okay?”

Every concerned step she took towards him made his heart beat faster, and by the time she reached him he thought he might as well have ascended into Valhalla. He could feel her touch like a quiet buzz on his skin when she reached to touch his forehead, but his attention was focused on her sun-kissed throat and her sparkling eyes. Her brows came together in concern, and she asked him something, but he couldn’t hear her over the dullness that had come over his ears.

She took his wrist, and in a heartbeat, he snapped out of it. Startled by his momentary lapse of control, he yanked his arm away from her touch and reacted the only way he knew how.

“I’m fine!” he barked ,standing. He was acutely aware of his face burning. “Don’t lay your hands on me! I resent you bringing me to such a ridiculous waste of time!” He jabbed a finger towards his brother and swung around to the others. “Do _not_ follow me.”

 _Damn this woman_. He needed to be careful before she turned his silver tongue to lead, and took back all the steps he had ahead of her. If she caught him alone, there was no telling what he would say.

He was, despite all that he had denied himself, inescapably in love. But maybe, whispered a little voice in his head, just _maybe_ … that was what he needed.


End file.
